Open Beta Player Status Available Now

VRChat player status, screenshot by odds.

While the VRChat team is busy either with work on their platform or production of new memes, at least everyone can participate in open testing of their Beta client on Steam to check out upcoming features.

One of the most noticeable changes in the Beta is definitely the new player status feature you can use to set your status as “Active”, “Join Me”, or “Busy”, as well as type in your own custom status description others will see below your name.

Since we’re still unable to send any text messages in VRChat, it shouldn’t be surprising if users start communicating with each other by using statuses, even though all of their friends will be able to read the messages.

VRChat developers already confirmed they might change the current look of status icons, since they think of them as a temporary option at the moment. Apparently, this could mean they’re going to change their design approach in the future to make the experience in VRChat more suitable and comfortable for the users.

Also, another ability VRChat users are going to receive with upcoming updates is creating custom friend groups. Unfortunately, it’s not the “guild” system a lot of users have been waiting for, but at least now you will be able to sort people on your friend list by assigning them to one of three categories. It’s just like Ron said over a month ago, “In an upcoming release there will be three friend groups of up to 32 you can custom name plus the main list. Something I could [definitely] use and I’m sure everyone will like.”

Among other news, VRChat finally published their new “New Hub” that is currently called “The Hub”. The look of it is certainly much darker from its predecessor’s, which probably means they’re trying to make a step back to the visuals of the Old Hub at some point to attract old community members.

Several users on the official VRChat Discord server, such as Jomiri and deliciousCheddar, stated that they definitely enjoyed the new hub, even though it looks rather “strange” at first glance.